Opinoins Please

[redpaint]

I have a chance to be in an Art show Next year. I have a very short time in witch to get my work ready to send. But I am having trouble with the theme. I have less than 30 days to get everything in to even be consider for this show, Thanks to the US Postal service. God only knows where that art flyer has been.

"Revealing Culture"

What I would like to know is what does this theme bring to your mind?

I have always lived in a small town. I am not even sure if I have any kind of culture. I do have two painting in mind for this show. IF I do get into this show I will tell ya'll more about as time goes by.

 

[sr71plt]

Small townish? A beat-up, bare-bones farm house, with a baby grand piano visible through the window.

 

[Nirvanadragones]

Does it have to be revealing the culture of your own town? And does it have to be revealing the culture in only one place? If not, I'd go with contrast . . . Well, even if it's only applicable to one place, I'd still go with contrast.

Perhaps something like . . . an urban scene . . teenagers, skateboards, graffiti, etc and then something completely different like an old church, with a baby being baptised. Or . . . food . . . bohemian scene with people sitting around drinking, eating, laughing. . . music. And then a contrast to that, like the beach, or somewhere quiet and tranquil, with something out of place that reveals culture . . . like litter . . . Mc Donalds package lying half in the sand or . . . I don't know.

Or contrast in People . . . innocent little kids playing on the beach or in a park . . . baby just starting to walk, holding the hands of her mother who is this hippie chick type of person . . . wild hair, flowing clothes, maybe a couple of piercings and a tattoo, teenagers sitting at a fast food restaurant devouring fries, listening to music . . . a club?

I'd suggest thinking specifically about what the cultures are that you'd like to depict, and then to work with that. Will you incorporate religion? Tradition? Clothes? Personal style? Artifacts? Symbolism?

Contrast and irony always stands out well and makes an impression if captured well.

Good luck with the show. I hope you get what you want.

 

[DeeZire]

The contrast idea is great! One way to approach that would be a series of images juxtapositioning different cultures in little one-on-one moments.

A couple holding hands - close up on the hands only - one caucasian, one of a different race.

A middle easterner in a turban talking to a baseball cap wearing whitey - close up of their faces smiling, connecting in deep conversation, or laughing at a joke.

A young black rapper chick walking with an older woman - perhaps her grandma - the older woman wearing something colorful with an ethnic flavor, the younger one in some trashy, urbanesque outfit.

A weathered oriental street vendor serving food to a squeaky-clean blonde chick. Perhaps she has sweet-and-sour sauce running down her chin and the oriental dude is reaching up to wipe it off with a napkin. Or perhaps they're engrossed in conversation while the blonde's Paris Hilton dog is munching on the food. Perhaps there could be a mangey street dog watching from the shadows, heightening the irony.

The subtext would be the idea that, on a personal level, we can all relate to one another if we ignore the stereotypes that rule our perception.

If you can move the viewer with your images, the emotional impact could put your entry head and shoulders above the rest. It's also good karma, dude.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

America has ONE culture NOT many. Our's is a European culture. We're the melting pot of the world and the mold is European. Even the Injuns are WASPs now.

Norman Rockwell already did American Culture. Grant Wood did it, too.

You might try re-visiting some of the American Masters...say...do a new AMERICAN GOTHIC without a man in the painting, do a mother and her kids alone, one of them bi-racial. Do a Rockwell town meeting with the cops dragging a citizen out of the hall. Do a painting of American unemployed, lined up, collecting their checks from a Mexican or Indian clerk. Do a drunk, passed out Uncle Sambo, lying on a sidewalk in the hood...with an empty Mad Dog 20/20 bottle beside him.

The possibilities are endless.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

"Revealing Culture" sounds like a euphemisim for the world of strip tease.

 

[ishtat]

An image of yourself distraught having just missed the last post.

 

[jomar]

An empty shopping mall

An elderly goth or punk couple watching American Idol or Dancing with the Stars.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

By gosh, by golly, I think I'll do my own carttons and send them to the paper.

 

[redpaint]

Thanks ya'll, SOund like we are all thinking along the same lines. Oh one thing I forgot to say this is a international show. But I still have to go with what I know and do.

 

[Dragonlipz]

A study in contrasts is always a great idea,

but there are aspects of the 'mundane' that are at once revealing and sublime: Day workers clustered around a bus stop; A long line at the unemployment office; parents watching thier children in a playground.....

 

[tickledkitty]

That topic sounds pretty vague and open to interpretation. I bet you could do just about anything.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Hows about a bunch of workers clustered around a bus stop in front of a car dealership, with this sign in the window: SPECIAL RECOVERY/STIMULUS DISCOUNT FOR BANKERS AND STOCK BROKERS.

 

[Guest]

I have a chance to be in an Art show Next year. I have a very short time in witch to get my work ready to send. But I am having trouble with the theme. I have less than 30 days to get everything in to even be consider for this show, Thanks to the US Postal service. God only knows where that art flyer has been.

"Revealing Culture"

What I would like to know is what does this theme bring to your mind?

I have always lived in a small town. I am not even sure if I have any kind of culture. I do have two painting in mind for this show. IF I do get into this show I will tell ya'll more about as time goes by.

the first thing I thought of was people... bodies of people I guess.... with the clothes moved just slightly.... not their faces but their bodies... like a woman that looks like she is dressed up for a business work... but what you see is she is wearing like a racy lacy bra and panties.... the unexpected... the part that doesnt quite fit with what you would think of for that person